You know about carjacking, right? Now, you also need to be careful about “bank jacking.”
Millions of Americans are pulling out their phones and using banking apps like Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App to pay for everything from dinners to vacation rentals. But that convenience is encouraging a new type of robbery.
Police say armed groups in Chicago and other cities are forcing people to unlock their phones using passcodes, thumbprints or facial recognition technology.
Once the robbers break in, they drain the victim’s bank account. The reward is often more than $1,000, which is far more than what criminals can usually earn just by stealing wallets.
In Chicago, robbers often wear the type of masks that have become common since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, even if police are able to trace the destination of money transfers from someone’s cell phone, victims often cannot identify the perpetrator.
In Chicago, overall holdups through Nov. 26 of this year are up more than 25% compared to last year. Detectives say such “bankjackings” using cell phones are a relatively new phenomenon, with an increase in robberies, including more than 1,600 carjackings last year. The number of bankjackings is unclear because Chicago police do not list bankjacking as a separate category of robbery.
Zachary Skinner was one of the victims. Around 1 a.m. on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Skinner, a 21-year-old college student from Valparaiso, Indiana, was bar hopping with his friends in Wrigleyville when a man wearing a ski mask approached him.
Skinner said the man asked for donations “so that underprivileged children can buy sports equipment.” Skinner said she reached into his pocket, handed him $7 and tried to get him to leave.
Skinner had a “sinking feeling” that it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t.
Another masked man approached, pulled up his shirt, revealed a gun in his waistband, and demanded Skinner’s cell phone and passcode.
The man used the Zelle app on his phone to transfer $1,000 to a bank account in the woman’s name.
Skinner was lucky. He was able to contact his parents and have his bank account frozen before the recipient of the illegal transfer received the money.
Skinner’s friends were talking to other people nearby and were unaware of what was happening.
If the robbers had depleted his bank account, Skinner said he would have had to work even more hours to make it up. As a two-sport college athlete, this would have been a huge challenge since he doesn’t have much free time.
Skinner said the attackers could not be identified because they were masked.
He says he should have stayed close to his friends that night.
“It really puts things into perspective,” he says. “So your life can be taken away within two seconds.”
He knows that if he uninstalls the banking app from his phone, this will never happen again.
“But is it practical?” said Skinner, who uses the app all the time. “Probably not.”
Bank Jacking in Streeterville
Anthony Morris is one of the people charged with bank app robberies in Chicago over the past year. Morris, 28, is a convicted felon for robbery and theft, and is accused of robbing a 40-year-old man in Streeterville on Dec. 29, 2022, at approximately 4 a.m. The man pointed a gun at a man in a parking lot in the 600 block of North McClurg Place and told him to “give me back my phone and money or I’ll kill him,” according to an arrest report. The man handed over his wallet, but said his cell phone was in a nearby apartment on the 41st floor.
Police said Morris then led the man into his apartment and pointed a gun at his back. Police said the man gave up his iPhone 14 and Morris took him back to the parking lot. Morris allegedly stole $1,350 using the PayPal app on the man’s phone, as well as $6,850 using the Cash App and $350 using Apple Cash.
According to the police report, Morris reminded the man that he knew where he lived and told him if he tried to do anything stupid, he would shoot him in the head. Police said Morris tried to steal the man’s BMW, but the man didn’t know how to drive a stick shift.
Morris was identified through surveillance video and the victim was able to identify him in a photographic sequence, police said. Mr. Morris is awaiting trial on charges of armed robbery and kidnapping.
Zelle is a digital payments network operated by a company owned by banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and US Bank. Offered by more than 2,100 banks and credit unions, it covers more than 80% of U.S. personal and small business accounts.
Users registered with the Zelle app can send and request money from others by adding a note indicating their phone number or email address, cash amount, and what the money will be used for.
Payments are typically made within minutes, but financial institutions set different limits on the amount of cash that can be transferred on a daily and monthly basis. In 2022, Zelle users made 2.3 billion transfers, totaling more than $629 billion.
Other digital payment apps, such as Venmo and Cash App, are run by tech companies and similarly allow users to quickly send money online. Venmo is owned by PayPal. Cash App is owned by Block Inc., a San Francisco company co-founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Venmo said it has not seen a significant increase in bankjacking reports, which the payment platform calls phone security issues. The company recommends security measures such as facial recognition, multi-factor authentication, and PIN codes that app users can enable to protect their accounts. Venmo says if an account is compromised, customers should contact customer service, change their account information, contact their financial institution and report it to law enforcement.
Cash App similarly refers to the “Security Lock” feature that provides a layer of security for opening the app and transferring cash. The company will send you an alert if a user’s girlfriend’s PIN or security settings change.
Zell did not respond to requests for comment.
Bankjackings are increasing nationwide
Violent bankjackings have been reported across the country over the past two years.
In New York, a political consultant from Washington disappeared on May 28, 2022, after visiting a nightclub. His body was discovered several days later. Police reportedly discovered that more than $25,000 had been transferred from his bank account through an app on his phone.
Other murders in New York have also been linked to bank app robberies.
In Chicago, an architect was walking to the downtown Metra station to catch a train around 5 a.m. on July 28 when three armed men pulled out of a car on the first block of South Jefferson Street. A man jumped out, took his phone and tried to unlock it. Press the device against your face.
When the facial recognition technology didn’t work, the robbers asked for a passcode and stole $2,000 through the Zelle banking app linked to the Chase account, he said. He also took her wallet and withdrew another $1,000 in cash from her bank account using the ATM password he gave her at gunpoint.
“I think it was just as traumatic for me and probably for my wife and children, because you never know what’s going to happen to me,” he says.
The architect said his bank almost immediately repaid the money taken from the ATM and forgave thousands of dollars recently charged to his credit card by robbers.
But the man, who asked not to be named, said he is still fighting to get back the money stolen from the bank on the Zelle app. More than 4 months? ”
He said Chicago police responded within minutes of the holdup and pursued the getaway vehicle with the help of a police helicopter, but the high-speed chase was called off due to department safety rules. The robbery remains unsolved.
“There are a lot of commercials about how to pay for a friend’s meal. It makes it super easy, but they’re not saying it’s like carrying thousands of dollars worth of cash in your pocket all the time,” says the architect. , he offers this advice: “Don’t put banking apps on your phone.”
A Chicago police detective who handled three bank app robberies suggests a less drastic safety solution. Some may consider uninstalling the app, reinstalling it only if payment is required, and then disabling it again.
“It actually doesn’t take that long,” said the detective, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized by the department to speak. “This will prevent bad guys from accessing your bank account. This is new, but it’s only going to get worse.”
Contributors: Sophie Shelley, Rosemary Sobol